"I have spent a lot of hours listening to music upstairs, they have a great collection of LPs, CDs and cassettes. It's my first time performing [here], and it's just natural that music happens here," he said.

"This library is more of a community centre, it has a cafe and gallery, so it's the way to go."

Mr Cossio said it was huge privilege to perform his works for the archive.

"It's exciting times for music here. It encourages musicians to keep working on new forms, and it's reflecting our times - we are not Europe in the 19th century," he said.

Attracting visitors online and in person

The SLWA has already digitised 34,000 collected items, but the performed music will be 'born' digital.

With online loans growing by 3,000 a month, the newest compositions will be more accessible to a wider audience than ever before.

Adam Trainer, a project officer for the WA New Music Archive, said the initiative was an invaluable career opportunity for the students.

"It's an opportunity for their work to be featured alongside local legends of new music and some well respected and highly regarded composers ... such esteemed company," he said.

"This is an opportunity for emerging composers to have their music performed ... and actually road-test it in a public space," Ms Sutherland added.

The unique concerts are part of bigger plan to keep visitors coming to the library when all the content is available online.

The institution is hoping to transform from a quiet reading place to a vibrant cultural centre for digital users.

Last year, the library welcomed 16,000 new online customers who loaned e-books, e-audiobooks and e-magazines across WA.

"This provides equity of access for people in regional Western Australia and, for the first time, they can access a wide range of new titles at the same time as people in the city," Ms Sutherland said.